News
New Facilities For Zane State College
By: Fred Kight
Posted on:
Zane State College is growing.
New facilities are now under construction at the main campus in Zanesville and a branch campus in Cambridge.
Executive Director of Institutional Advancement at Zane State College Pamela Jira says the new building at Cambridge is an Energy Training and Education Facility.
Jira says this will make Cambridge a full campus.
The Training and Education facility is a $6 million project with funding from Ohio's Capital Budget.
It will include a student lounge, bookstore, library, classroom spaces, laboratories and a cafeteria.
Classes will begin to be offered in the spring semester of 2014.
Jira says the project will help Zane State prepare Ohians to fill job openings in the energy industry and was developed from a growing demand in the region for higher education.
"We have a great vision for prosperity and progress in this area of the state," said Jira.
The shale oil and gas potential has been drawing energy companies to the area and officials talk enthusiastically about new business and job creation.
The new facility will allow Zane State College to teach 500 students per term.
"Placement rate for college graudates right now is at 99 percent, so within six months of graduation, even in a down economy 99 percent of our students are employed, " said Jira.
Jira says the Energy Training and Education facility is turning Cambridge into a college town.
"This a result of strong partnerships between private individuals, corporations and government entities," said Jira. "The community is responding with great passion and an outpouring of support for this project."
Zane State's new Zanesville facility is an Advanced Science and Technical Center.